Three people believed to have been abducted in Vadamaradchi are being detained by anti-drugs police in Trincomalee. Mr Jeffrin, George Rasanayagam and V. Michael were believed to have been abducted as they were seized in vans by unidentified individuals and their families uninformed. The three men were reported missing by their families to Palai and Kilinochchi police and the case reported to the Human Rights Commission. The inquiries by the Commission led to the discovery that the three men had been arrested by a special drugs force from Trincomalee, despite no record of their arrests being...
Sri Lanka's CID officers arrested a man on Thursday for allegedly threatening the president, Maithripala Sirisena on the social media site, Facebook, reported the Daily Mirror . The man had been deported from Malaysia as he had been staying there without an adequate visa. The man was arrested at Bandaranaike International airport and brought before Colombo's chief magistrate court. He will be remanded in custody till May 6th.
An agreement was reached on Friday between Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $1.5 billion bailout in order to rectify its finances and evert a balance of payments crisis. "The Sri Lankan authorities and the IMF have reached a staff-level agreement on a 36-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF)," the IMF mission chief for Sri Lanka, Todd Schneider, said in a statement. The three-year loan is the second bailout from the IMF since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, and will be depend on Sri Lanka implementing financial reforms including the reduction of the deficit.
Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi said the TID's arrest of former LTTE commanders is in relation to the reported finding of a suicide vest and unexploded explosives in Jaffna. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Hettiarachchi said he could not make any comment until the investigation was over. "After the investigations over and a reports are submitted only we can make a statement," he was quoted by Colombo Page as saying. Denying there was any threat to national security, he added, "we currently do not have such a threat but if there is such a situation we will be vigilant."
Tamil protestors in Puthukkudiyiruppu managed to deter Sri Lankan military surveyors from acquiring a tranche of privately owned land on Wednesday.
US- #SriLanka Action Plan signing today shows econ benefits that can come w/govt embrace of human rgts & transparency pic.twitter.com/r7VMzUDhj5 — Samantha Power (@AmbassadorPower) April 28, 2016 US Ambassador Samantha Power heaped praise on Sri Lanka as a “as a global champion of human rights and democratic accountability,” in a speech delivered in Washington on Thursday. Speaking at the signing of the United States-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council, Ms Power said Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s administration “has made extraordinary progress” towards seeking “a durable peace, an accountable democracy, a new relationship with the outside world, and expanded opportunities for all”. The ambassador also reiterated the “importance President Obama, himself, places on the United States’ bilateral relationship with Sri Lanka”. “More specifically, our commitment – and his commitment – to Sri Lanka’s continued progress, and our determination to support President Sirisena in his efforts to ensure that this progress delivers socio-economic benefits for the people of Sri Lanka,” she added. “Sri Lanka has, since January 2015, emerged as a global champion of human rights and democratic accountability,” the ambassador stated.
Sri Lanka faces a high risk of diminishing remittances from migrant workers in the Middle Eastern economies due to the crashing oil prices, warns Fitch Ratings on Friday. In a brief on South Asia, Fitch Ratings said that workers remittance remains a vital source of hard currency for many Asian emerging economies, adding, “Remittance inflows in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam are particularly strong relative to the size of their economies. The growth of remittance inflows is slowing in some of these countries, but absolute amount remains large and significant.”...
A memorial event was held in Jaffna Friday to mark the 11th anniversary of the journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram’s murder. A memorial pillar for slain journalists and media workers was also unveiled. Many local journalists and politicians attended the event.
Updated 2100 GMT Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström arrived in Jaffna on Tuesday, ahead of a series of meetings with civil society activists, displaced Tamils and the Chief Minister of the Northern Province. On arriving in the North-East, Ms Wallström was greeted by Jaffna’s Government Agent Mr N Vethanayaha, as she held a meeting at the District Secratariat.
Another two Tamils in the North-East were abducted in a white van on Tuesday. George Rajanayakam, 42, and V Michael, 45 were taken near Kattaikadu, Mulliyan, as they were about to go out to sea to fish, when the men came in a "Dolphin" van. "Both of them are family man, and we are not aware of the reasons behind their abduction. They never had any connections with the LTTE" relatives of the men said. Tensions in the Vadamaradchi area remained high on Wednesday according to local residents due to the spate of abductions and arrests by the TID. Former LTTE cadres are reported to be moving away from their homes. Sri Lanka's ministry for rehabilitation has further summoned former members of the LTTE to Colombo on April 30th, without giving them a precise location.